Company helps customers reduce carbon footprints and energy bills

Balboni Energy offers solar photovoltaic, solar thermal, wind turbine, and geothermal equipment and installation. Each of Balboni’s four full-time employees specializes in one of these areas.

Julie Onufrak

Steve Balboni grew up in the oil business, but until the past few years, he had never seen such drastic increases in energy costs for his customers.

“At one point, I was sitting with my secretary, and we were just looking at each other and saying, ‘How are people going to be able to pay for this?’” Balboni said. “At that point in time, I started thinking that I had to do something different.”

After owning and operating Balboni’s Oil for eight years, he sold the company to Hanson Fuel and founded Balboni Energy in August. He runs the energy equipment service provider out of the same Kingston office.

Balboni’s goal is to help customers reduce their carbon footprints and their energy bills. First, his team assesses a customer’s current heating equipment and makes suggestions as to how to update it to be energy-efficient.

“We take it one step at a time,” he said. “Especially with winter coming, changing out their 30- or 40-year-old heating system is an immediate impact on their dollar savings.”

The company will also recommend small adjustments, like the installation of new windows or insulation. Balboni said that minor changes like these will pay for themselves in four to six years of energy savings, versus 16 years for something like solar panels.

Once adjustments have been made for the short term, Balboni and his team make recommendations for the long term. The company offers solar photovoltaic, solar thermal, wind turbine, and geothermal equipment and installation. Each of Balboni’s four full-time employees specializes in one of these areas.

He said that so far, his most popular products have been high-efficiency gas and oil boilers, as well as on-demand oil water tanks that heat water only as it is needed. He expects to offer new equipment as it comes on the market, as long as he believes it will save energy and money for his customers.

Balboni said that his experience in the oil business has helped him with his new business; he’s able to look at an old oil tank or oil line and know when it needs to be replaced. At the same time, he hasn’t looked back since starting the new venture.

“I’m more excited now than when I first started my own oil company,” Balboni said, “because I’m offering solutions rather than just supplying energy.”